Bike sharing coming to S.F. and southward

August target for 70 kiosks for S.F., Peninsula, San Jose

Updated 10:43 pm, Sunday, March 17, 2013

A Capital Bikeshare participant on the move between kiosks in Washington, D.C., where nearly 1,700 bikes are available.

A Capital Bikeshare participant on the move between kiosks in Washington, D.C., where nearly 1,700 bikes are available.

Photo: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg

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Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Photo: Yue Wu, The Chronicle

Bike sharing coming to S.F. and southward

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Come August, commuters in San Francisco and San Jose and up and down the Peninsula won't need to own bikes to pedal to many destinations. They'll be able to borrow and return hundreds of bicycles at dozens of kiosks.

Bike sharing, an idea that's been popular in Europe for decades and coveted by San Francisco for years, is finally arriving in the Bay Area - or at least the part of the region served by Caltrain.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District plans to roll out a $7 million test program in August, just in time for the America's Cup and the region's busy season of fall festivals and events.

So is the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which has championed bike sharing. However, it fears that the test program is too modest a start, with too few bikes at not enough locations.

"We're really happy the Bay Area is catching up to the rest of the American cities that have bike sharing programs," said Leah Shahum, the coalition's executive director. "But we think the system is starting too small. The density of the system is critical to its success."

700 bikes, 70 stations

The program, which has not yet been named, will feature 700 bikes at 70 stations, with exactly half of the network in San Francisco. The rest will be scattered among the four other participating cities: Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose. Originally, the system planned for 1,000 bikes, with 500 in San Francisco.

Those wanting to borrow bikes must sign up for memberships, which will likely be offered in one-day, three-day, monthly and annual passes, said Karen Schkolnick, grants program manager for the air district.

Prices have not yet been set, but Boston's Hubway bike sharing program, which is similar to what's planned in the Bay Area, charges $5 for 24 hours, $12 for three days and $85 for an annual pass.

Members can take a bike from an automated station for up to 30 minutes and return it to any other station with no additional charge. After that, hourly rates kick in. In Boston, they vary from $2 for the first additional half hour to $100 for 24 hours.

The idea, said Schkolnick, is to encourage short rides and to keep the bikes on the move - not sitting around in someone's office or being used to cruise across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Not for longer trips

"If you want to use a bicycle all day," she said, "bike sharing is not the best way to go. You should rent a bike. This system is for making short trips."

In San Francisco, the bike stations will be spread through downtown - along the Embarcadero as well as in the South of Market neighborhood, the Financial District and up Market Street to the Civic Center area.

In the other cities, Schkolnick said, the kiosks are likely to be located within a mile or two of Caltrain stations at popular destinations. Specific locations have not yet been selected, though the list has been narrowed to 140 spots.

The test of the bike sharing program is set to last one to two years under the direction of the air district, which is contributing $1.4 million. Other funding comes from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission ($4.3 million) and transit agencies ($1.3 million).

Schkolnick said the goal has always been 1,000 bikes at first, but that the program needs to attract other funding, probably from private partners.

Other cities have much larger programs, said the bicycle coalition's Shahum, citing Washington, D.C., with more than 1,670 bikes, and Pittsburgh, which plans to launch a program this spring with 500 bikes. New York is preparing to roll out the nation's largest bike sharing program this year - with 10,000.

Schkolnick said the air district chose not to limit the program to San Francisco because of the regional nature of commuting in the Bay Area and the Peninsula's interest in the program. Caltrain has drawn large crowds of bicyclists who pedal to the station, ride the train and then pedal some more to work.

Predicting success

Aboard Caltrain Friday morning, two bicyclists who used to live in cities with bike sharing operations predicted success in the Bay Area.

Robert Ruhlandt, 26, is studying at Stanford University for a year, but lives in Germany, where he used bike sharing frequently. With an internship in downtown Frankfurt, he said, he rode the train from his suburban home into the city, then grabbed a shared bicycle and pedaled it to a kiosk near his job.

"I have my own bike, but there are so many occasions when I don't have it with me or it's not convenient to get it," he said.

Simon Mathieu, a 27-year-old San Francisco software engineer who once lived in Montreal, said he used shared bikes there when he went out to dinner or a bar and didn't want to risk having his own bike stolen, or when he wanted the choice of taking transit or a taxi home after a night out.

"It was a very useful service," he said. "When I signed up, I thought I might use it twice a week. I ended up using it more like six or seven times a week. And that was in Montreal, where the bike season is eight months. I'm sure it would work here."

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